Shehu Sani Urges Excluded Candidates to Focus on Future Elections

Former Kaduna Central Senator, Shehu Sani, advised governorship candidates omitted from the final list released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to refrain from pursuing legal challenges. He urged the affected politicians, including Professor Isa Ali Ibrahim Pantami, Ladi Adebutu, and Aminu Abdussalam Gwarzo, to accept the outcome and prepare for future elections instead of wasting resources on what he termed a lost cause.

Sani's comments came after a Supreme Court ruling upheld provisions of the Electoral Act 2026, which allowed INEC to exclude candidates not listed in the political party membership registers. INEC Chairman, Professor Joash Amupitan, confirmed that the commission had received the Supreme Court's judgment and was reviewing it.

Mohammed Haruna, INEC National Commissioner, stated that political parties would be barred from participating in the elections if they fielded candidates whose names were not on the submitted membership registers.